Makorra oneshots
by Sickly Awesome
Summary: cute little things
1. Chapter 1

Legend of Korra, "Literacy" Part 1

**Summary**: a fill for the Korra ficathon. "_**Mako/Korra**__, Book One AU in which Mako and Asami never dated and Bolin's feelings for Korra were purely platonic. How do Mako and Korra fall in love now?_"

**Rating**: PG (idk how to do ratings IT IS SUITABLE FOR ALL AGES)

**Word Count**: 2,960

**Pairing**: Makorra

**Notes**: idk I DON'T WRITE MUCH FIC PLS ENJOY THNAK

He was 18 when the Avatar came to Republic City—18 and on the cusp of manhood, scuffed knees and tattered clothes and hunger like white ash piled in his stomach, breathing down his neck. Something like salvation glittered on the horizon far ahead, although it could just be a heat mirage; Mako was used to those. Summertime in the city got so hot with all the steel and all the glass and all the light bouncing off each other till even the fish mongers wouldn't toss their catch, for fear of frying it in the air.

But it was the end of summer now, and instead of tamarind the street vendors were selling roasted acorns.

He met her when the nights were starting to chill: Bolin brought her into the prep box on the night of their second-to-last qual-match.

_There's something special about her._ And even then Mako couldn't help but think Bolin had been a little bit right—she had weathered skin (wind exposure? frost? Mako knew both well), and when she raised her hands to congratulate him, he saw they were heavily calloused. Her jawline was strong with a slight underbite, so when she smiled her lips pulled back only to reveal the top row of her teeth (wide and overlarge, especially in the front). Mako always had an eye for detail—a necessity, because if you couldn't read the lines you had to read between them—and so yes, she was special, in an overly enthusiastic, overly friendly sort of way. Mako was used to enthusiastic and friendly being the opening act of some sort of scam, so despite the fact that he couldn't stop poring over her details (weathered skin, callouses, strong jaw, large teeth, underbite; weathered skin callouses, strong jaw, underbite, large teeth; repeat), he didn't say much. Bolin couldn't keep his head on straight, so, as always, it fell to him.

Still, he always wondered what it would be like to be trusting, to take enthusiasm and friendliness and toss it right back. The ache of not knowing hurt especially bad tonight, watching the both of them practice earthbending forms and laugh.

He'd kept an eye on her for the rest of the night. Bolin seemed to like her a lot. And when she (Korra, _Avatar Korra_, underbite or no underbite) and Bolin shook hands at the end of the night, something in the pit of Mako's stomach quickened up. Not the white ash of hunger, because he knew what that felt like. This feeling was hotter, with more of an edge and more of a kick.

"I'll walk you out," Bolin said.

Korra half-turned toward Mako, pouting and chewing on her lower lip. He waited for her to say something, but she only huffed. "Alright, fine." She and Bolin walked out, and he turned away.

Their late dinner was nearly cooked by the time Bolin got back. "Jeeze, Mako, you should have seen it! I thought she had taken the ferry or something, but no, dude, the ferries don't run at night! So I asked her, 'How the heck did you get here?' And she was all—" Bolin paused, thrusting one hip out and planting one palm firmly upon it; Mako guessed this was his brother's approximation of Korra, but in Mako's opinion the original was far better. "She was all, 'Oh, I have my ways!' And she dove into the water. Dove, dude! Water spiral and all, and man she surfaced like waaaaay off, halfway into the bay!" Here, Bolin paused, punctuating his story with a little leap of excitement. "She's amazing!"

"Is she now?" Mako could see it in his mind's eye: the water of Yue Bay an inky black, Korra's hair matching it (although it was a deep brown under the lighting of the arena). Her underbite smile half-lilted on her face, one corner of her mouth twisted roguishly. She'd probably enjoyed impressing his brother. Mako couldn't swim well (barely knew how), but in his head her dive was perfect, whatever that meant. He had enjoyed being impressed by her in the practice gym earlier, and he probably would have enjoyed this, too.

"Yeah, dude! We've got to hang out with her more often. She's pretty much the coolest dude on the planet! Or dudette—would it be dudette? I like dude better, but…" Noticing Mako's silence, Bolin sidled up to his brother and leaned on the counter. Mako was chopping onions, but had lit a candle earlier to keep his eyes from stinging. Bolin passed a finger through the flame, toying with it. "Bro, are you listening?"

"Don't do that, Bo. You'll burn yourself."

Bolin heaved a sigh. "Maaaakoooo, brooo. Are you getting all this? We are talking about Korra. Kor-ra."

"And I've been listening this entire time!" On 'entire,' Mako slammed the chopping knife particularly hard into the side of the onion.

"Woah, easy, dude. It just doesn't seem like you liked her all that much. Like, I guess, what do you think of her?"

And before he could stop himself, Mako began listing off everything he'd seen. "Her skin looks rough, especially her hands. Something about her jawline looks stubborn. She has an underbite." Mako would have gone on, but he caught himself. His fingers went slack, clattering the knife of the cutting board, while his face screwed up in confusion. Out loud, it'd all sounded like a bad thing. But it wasn't—not to him. He looked a Bolin, feeling a little helpless and hoping at least his brother had understood, but Bolin looked mildly offended.

"Wow." Bolin pinched the candle out, waggling his thick eyebrows. "She was right, dude. You can be a real jerkbender sometimes, you know."

The candle relit itself as Mako pressed his palms to his temple. But even with the candle, the closeness of his fingers (which smelled strongly of onion) brought a sharpness to his eyes. He swore to himself that if he started to cry, he would just go to bed, dinner be damned. "Ugh." He gritted his teeth. "That's not what I meant—" And then, as he processed what Bolin had said— "She said what about me?"

Bolin grabbed a slice of onion and popped it in his mouth. His nose wrinkled up at the taste as he swallowed it, but his hand was already reaching for another. Mako couldn't even bring himself to swat him away. "One:," he said. He gave the slice a few more chews, as if that might help the taste. "What _do_ you mean? And two: yeah, she said that about you. But to be fair you were giving her the cold shoulder all night."

"I—"

Bolin grabbed a handful of slices, and began popping them into his mouth thoughtfully. "Although you give everyone the cold shoulder—ha, ha, that's weird for a firebender. You get it? Cold shoulder, firebender?"

"Bo—"

"Yeeeah, I can do better. But it seemed colder tonight, you know. Hey, remember that time when I set you up, the double date, yeah? That was fun." Bolin frowned. "At least, for me it was."

"Bolin."

Bolin downed the rest of the slices. "What?"

Except Mako couldn't really find the words to say. That night, they had stir-fry without onions, and Bolin made a big deal about how he was going to show Korra all the things the cool deer-cats did in Republic City.

"I mean, she lives with a bunch of monks. Laaaaaame!" Bolin sang. He tossed his pillow up in the air, punched it a few times before it fell, and then followed it down to his bed. "Night bro!"

It took Mako an extra hour to finally fall asleep.

_

And the next night, it was even worse. Hasook bailed on them, and Korra of all people bailed them out. He'd seen her move in the last round—unbelievable, or in the words of the announcer, "a complete three-sixty from pro-bending chump to champ." He had thought he'd had her down details and all, but there was more to her than he supposed. He told her she was a natural, that he had her wrong, and while she'd smiled it'd been far too quick. Mako was used to things passing before his eyes (nothing is permanent), but he found himself wanting to hold on to that smile, if only for an extra second or minute or hour. She didn't stay after the match, but while Bolin showed his disappointment, Mako did not.

Even still, Bolin had been ecstatic, bellowing about the 'New and improved Fire Ferrets, oh yeah!' until eleven, when he finally knocked out on the couch.

But Mako didn't go to bed that night. Though he was dead tired, he sat by the western window, folding himself into the corner of the windowsill. Across the bay, Air Temple Island rose from the water like—like—like something, but he had no fine words to say. Korra was there, and he had no words for this either.

She thought he was a jerk: the more Mako thought about it, the more he realized this was more or less true. And while it was too much to ask for her to forgive him outright (never presume—he learned that after not learning how to spell), he at least wanted her to know that he didn't want to be a jerk, not to her.

In the radio dramas Bolin liked, well-intentioned gentleman sometimes wrote their lovers letters of apology. Now, Mako would be damned if he considered himself a gentlemen (he was not), and he'd be damned if he was in love (he was _not_), but the gesture seemed alright. The only problem was, as somewhere in the distance a clock chimed midnight, he couldn't really write. When he was thirteen and Bolin was eleven, he'd saved up enough to send his brother to a normal school for half a year. One of them needed to read and write. Mako could read a little, write a bit, but he couldn't do it _well_. Even wrapping his head around the Triads' shorthand was painful.

But (it was now 12:15), he couldn't ask Bolin to do it. It'd be better if he did it himself.

A little unwillingly, he extracted himself from the windowsill—a little shakily at first because his foot had fallen asleep folded up beneath him. He kept copies of all the old money orders he had run in a box under his bed, and it was this he fished out at approximately 12:20. In the beginning, the box's contents were for insurance (always have a way out—he'd learned that after a particularly rough weekend in juvenile detention), but the yellowing scraps of paper proved useful in other ways. Any characters beyond numbers, "POLICE," and "PROHIBITED" were slippery in his head, no matter how many times he forced himself to attempt the front page, but copying the money orders a hundred times over at least gave him a foothold on shorthand. He'd memorized their meanings as a child, and he hoped the scrawls of '_5k yuan to Han on Pine Street—Shin sends his thanks_' had stuck with him.

Mako rifled through the box, not daring to hope for the right words, but words that would be warmer than his shoulders, at least.

By 2:00, he'd pieced something together. The handwriting didn't match, because he'd copied the words straight from the orders (he didn't trust himself otherwise), and it probably sounded stilted. He'd also forgotten what a lot of the notes had said, only recognizing a few words here and there. But it was something, and something was more than he had ever done before. Looking it over, he felt odd, a little light in the head and heavy in his core:

_My APOLOGIES FOR LAST NIGHT! I hope you can DO NOT BE UPSET AT MISSING AMOUNT I WILL PROVIDE THE REST AT A LATER DATE. I will be SEEING you SOON OUTSIDE ARENA COME ALONE._

That looked alright, right? The ferries didn't run on the weekends, so he'd bring it over himself on Monday. A personal touch. That meant warm shoulders, right? The ferry cost two yuan, but for the first time in his life it honestly did not seem like that steep a price.

Monday came, and so did the ferry. But while Monday came on time, the ferry came three minutes late, which did not help the uneasy feeling in Mako's stomach. "Two whole yuans, and you can't be bothered to come on time?" He had yelled at the ship attendant who collected his stub, which now, stepping ashore Air Temple Island, he felt embarrassed about. They meditated here, didn't they?

He wandered around for a while, feeling too out of place to talk to the orange-clad acolytes who scattered across the grounds like fall leaves. At last, he summoned up the courage to ask an older woman if she knew where Kor—_the Avatar_ might be.

"Airbending training. Up the stairs." The woman smiled at him, and when she turned around to point the way, he saw she was pregnant.

"Thank you," he bowed. Not even half an hour into his visit, and he'd already bothered a pregnant woman. His ears burned as he jogged up the stairs, praying to whatever spirits gave a damn that he didn't trip and further embarrass himself.

He didn't trip, at least not up the stairs, but when he found Korra she was dressed like one of the acolytes.

"Oh—you again?" she frowned. "I was gonna hang out with Bolin today. Is he sick or something?"

Bolin was still sleeping, actually, but Mako hadn't come here to talk about his brother. "Um—" He began fishing in his pocket for the note. At two in the morning this had seemed like such a good idea, but now in the moment, he realized he should have mailed it. Should he wait for her to read it? Just leave? Just leaving seemed the better option. He should have just left, even before he came.

"What do you want?" Korra scowled, crossing her arms over her chest, and for two seconds it became painfully obvious to Mako that airbending training clothes did not include brassieres.

"Here!" He thrust the note at her and turned to leave.

But while it took him a good hour to slog through the front page of the paper, he'd forgotten that it took other people only a few seconds to tear through little notes written on the backs of receipts.

"Hey!"

The ground shifted beneath him, and he found himself being bodily turned around.

"What the hell is this?" She waved the note at him and then set it aflame.

No, now that he thought about it—really, truly, thought about it—this never would have ended well anyway. He was right to give her the cold shoulder; they'd never get along. He liked her underbite, but he'd spent hours on that note. "It was nothing," he said. The lightness in his head and heaviness in his core had dwindled down to almost nothing. Now they were easy to ignore, and yes, he could almost feel his shoulders turn to ice. Firebender with cold shoulders; his brother was right. Mako didn't have time for this.

"You don't just give someone—it was kind of threatening!—honestly, what is wrong with you?"

Mako was a little alarmed (what had those money orders said, exactly?), but the hurt he felt was stronger. "There's nothing wrong with me," he said. Behind him, he heard a rustling—he had an awful feeling the pregnant woman was watching the show. In fact, looking around, there were a lot of people staring. A bunch of kids, the pregnant woman. A lumbering white beast that cocked its head at him and panted. Damn.

Korra was still yelling, oblivious to everything. "It's like you don't even know how to read, let alone write!"

Mako kept stock still.

To her credit, it only took Korra a second to realize—

"Oh. _Oh_."

Mako licked his lips. "Alright. I—uh—I guess Bolin will see you around." He turned again, hoping she'd let him go. But again, the earth shifted beneath him, and he found himself staring at Korra, face to face.

She was smiling now, a little hopefully. "I didn't know, but hey—" She shrugged, and Mako guessed she was trying to look nonchalant. "I could teach you how." Was she blushing? "To read, I mean."

"That'll be a waste of time," he began, but she shook her head empathetically.

"No, no, it's like an Avatar thing. Helping people, you know?"

"Honestly, it's alright. I've managed to get this fa—"

"Hey." She grabbed his hand, and her fingers were just as calloused as he'd thought. "Let me help you."

Mako had tried teaching himself, multiple times, countless times, more times than he cared to think of, and he doubted even the Avatar could stop the lines and squiggles and dots that were supposed to be characters from sliding in one ear and out the other. But her grip was strong, and he figured it'd be easier to just go along with her, at least until she got frustrated and gave up on him.

He sighed. "Fine."

"Great!" Her grin was so wide it defied even her underbite, and both top and bottom rows of her large teeth flashed at him. "Let's start right now!"

If she got as frustrated as quickly as she got excited, this wouldn't take too long.

At last, Korra noticed the small crowd that had gathered around them. "Hey! What are you guys looking at?"

Hopefully it wouldn't take too long.


	2. Chapter 2

So yes. This is me with no sleep posting some fun stuffs. Writing a story. AU sort of. With an OC. Yey. Got some obligatory Masami, one-sided Borra and I'm gonna throw in some Korrasami if it feels right. So. Here we go! Rated M for later chapters and such.

I will update this once a week Wednesday/Thursday/Whenever the fuck I feel like it okay okay

"You won't be there forever, will you?"

I had my back towards her. The harbor winds kicked up across the water and whistled in my ears, some light spray kissing my face. I only heard a muffled voice as she spoke, but I discerned what she had asked.

Keeping myself facing away from her I squared my shoulders and replied cryptically, "This trip will take as long as I need it to". I allowed myself to relax my knees as they were locking up from the tension between us. "It's not for your benefit that I stay there or come back."

As I surveyed the lapping waves licking at the docks, I heard her speak again. A noticeable edge had solidified in her voice, cutting through the howling of the breeze like a blade through flesh.

"I'm very glad that you've taken this time and money all to yourself, seeing as many people have cared for you and given so much to you for this 'vacation'. It's nice to see you taking a break from life while the rest of us continue work our asses off".

Her sickeningly sarcastic tone irritated the calm in my soul. "I've shown my gratitude, I've paid my debts and I don't need your malice when I'm about to leave on a spiritual journey. Everyone else understands or is at least accepting what I'm doing, which is far from what you say is a so-called 'vacation'. We're not even together anymore and you're still riding my ass about what I'm doing with my life. Is there anything I do that you can't criticize?" I growled as I turned my head slightly to view her slender form out of the corner of my eye. Without thinking I sneered icily, "As for us, shit, we couldn't make our relationship work in the worst of times. What makes you think I want to be with you when everything is good again?"

I immediately regretted what I had just spitefully said when I noticed her reaction to my venomous words. Her fair brow knitted in fury as she balled her fists and nearly screamed, "I've given so much to you! I sacrificed a lot for our failing relationship! Even after we were through you took forever in repairing what friendship we could have had. Not to mention the hurt and disappointment I felt when you told me you were going to run away from your problems by taking some magical, random trip to Ireland by yourself. How the hell is that supposed to help our relationship? You're so fucking selfish!" I could see tears beginning to form in her jade-green eyes.

Feeling a harsh pang of guilt, I turned to face her and moved to bring her into an embrace. She resisted at first but then fiercely hugged my waist. I felt my own tears begin to slide down my face as she wept rancorously, her forehead thumping in sheer frustration against my shoulder. We held each other stiffly for an indeterminate amount of time as our sobs racked against each other's bodies. The wind over the harbor blew stiffly now, whipping up a fine mist that dampened my hair and stung my ears which were red and tender from the emotional struggle. My senses were reacting to everything in this tenderly sorrowful moment: the sweet and tangy scent of the perfume she wore (a scent I had gifted her as an anniversary present) prickled my skin, which in turn noted the soft firmness of her body against mine, automatically triggering my fingers to touch the softness of her hair on the back of her head. My mind was flipping through memories of our joys together, long past; my heart lilted its laments by fluttering painfully in my chest.

"Fuck you, Neal. I don't want you in my life anymore", she croaked as she tried to force herself from crying longer. She hiccupped and tucked her head beneath my chin and pressed her breasts strongly against mine; it was an old physical habit she had developed from the time when we had slept together as lovers.

I put my chin atop her head, closed my tear-stained eyes and sighed in resignation. "I still love you, Sabrina, but I don't ever want to see you again".

The winter wind howled across the harbor as the ships came rolling in on the rising tide.

Korra huffed as she passed through the wildly spinning ancient wooden panels, her body twisting and contorting with concentrated effort. She spun herself through to the other side of the rotating gates without a bruise or scratch.

Tenzin nodded in approval. "Good work. Keep this up and you will most definitely be air bending with the rest of us." He waved a hand at the panels, a stiff cross-wind stilling their movement. "We will continue your air bending training bright and early tomorrow morning, starting with meditation."

The Avatar groaned and slumped over, not at all looking forward to sitting on her ass and not doing anything for several hours. "How is meditation helpful again? I didn't need it for any other part of my bending training in water, fire and earth. What makes you think it will help my air bending?" She sullenly kicked a stray pebble across the cobble courtyard, sending it far into the bushes on the other end of the yard.

"Air bending is about freedom of the mind and spirit. You must learn how to free yourself from worldly worries in order to both unlock your air bending ability and control the Avatar state." Tenzin's shoulders fell when he realized Korra had zoned out on what he had just said and was looking at him with a glassy stare. "Never mind that now, go take a break and finish up the rest of your day. I'll explain tomorrow morning." He sighed as Korra threw her fist into the air in elation and ran off toward the docks and onto the ferry to Republic City. Tenzin remembered something and called after her, "Don't forget, Master Katara is arriving for a visit tonight. Invite your friends if you want. Please don't be late for dinner!"

Korra grinned with unbridled happiness as she glanced over her shoulder and shouted back to Tenzin as she ran towards the ferry, "I won't forget! I'll be back on time! I promise!"

The earth propelled her forward with each bounding step Korra took. Pro-bending practice was something she always held excitement for. It allowed her to focus on what she liked best: honing her bending ability to its finest fighting edge. Practice also gave her chances to be around Mako, whom she had an intense teenage crush on. Anytime she was around the handsome young fire bender, her heart would race like a small bird trapped in a cage. She found his physique pleasing to the eye and his demeanor alluring, despite his prickly personality. The rare bits of praise he gave her sent her mood skyrocketing. However, whenever his new girlfriend, that Asami Sato woman, hung around Mako Korra would become irritable, jealous and feel inferior all at once. She felt as if Mako would be better off with her, the Avatar, as opposed to a spoiled rich prissy princess who, as far as Korra was concerned, couldn't protect herself from a paper bag blowing down the street. Although seeing Asami being affectionate with Mako made Korra bristle with disgust, she couldn't help but look upon her with envy and a touch of something else the young Avatar couldn't quite put her finger on.

As Korra leaped onto the ferry heading to the city she caught a whiff of ozone and a stiff, salty breeze coming in from across Yue Bay. She trained her eyes across the horizon and spied roiling cumulonimbus clouds miles off over the open ocean. By the way the air smelled and the raggedness of the surf there would be a pretty bad storm rolling right over Republic City. Hopefully, she thought, Master Katara's ship would not be caught unawares in the incoming storm. She shoved the mental note of the bad weather into the back of her mind as she made her way to the prow of the ferry and took stock in the panoramic of sky scrapers, factory smoke stacks and construction cranes as the ferry flew towards the city's receiving docks.


	3. Chapter 3

You Love Me

A/N: I was listening to my awesome music and I thought to myself what would this song do for Korra/ Mako relationship? Well here's what is think it would look like.

Korra was sick of this. Sick of being the puppet of her feelings. Sick of have the guy she thought was in love with. It was not the way she wanted it to be. She wanted love like she heard people talk about. But this wasn't something she needed. What she needed was her new best friend. Rum & Vodka.

" Hey Korra, the usual?" said Jack, the bartender. She knew him for about a year now and today was their year anniversary. Ironic, that today was her and Mako's year anniversary, but he want to go suck face with Asami. Today was a day just for Jack, she guessed.(like his name?xD)

"Yeah. Had a rough day. How come all you men are so rude? Why can't for once in your life tell the truth?" she almost shouted

_"look at me now!" _a singer sang sourly

" Korra, I know you can do that better please sing for me! Or I will tell Tenzin about all your relaxing training!" pleaded Jack

"Fine but you have to pay me!" she said with a smirk

"Fine! Just do it quick!"

She walked up to the stage and told the singer to take 5. She toke what song played on her heart and it just flowed.

_**I'm holdin' on your rope,**_

_**Got me ten feet off the ground.**_

_**And I'm hearin' what you say, **_

_**But I just can't make a sound.**_

_**You tell me that you need me,**_

_**Then you go and cut me down...**_

_**But wait...**_

_**You tell that you that your sorry didn't think a turn around...**_

_**Any Say...**_

_**That it's too late to apologize.**_

_**It's too late.**_

_**It's too lat to apologize.**_

_**It's too late.**_

Mako just walk in to his, hopefully still, girlfriends bar. He knew she loved this place. He also knew that the bartender was in love with her. Every time they had a fight, he was right there for her. He should have been that shoulder but this time was different. This was their anniversary, for spirit's sake! She should have been home with him! But what he didn't expected to find way is beautiful girlfriend sing a song with so much sorrow that only her angelic voice could over it. But he knew better. The song was about them and for some reason it did sound like it had a good ending.

_**I'd take another chance**_

_**Take a fall, take a shot for you**_

_**I need you like a heart needs a beat,**_

_**But it's nothin' new, yeah!**_

_**I loved you with a fire red,**_

_**Now it's turning blue...**_

_**And you say...**_

_**Sorry, like an angel**_

_**Heaven let me think was you...**_

_**But I'm afraid...**_

_**That it's too late to apologize.**_

_**It's too late.**_

_**It's too lat to apologize.**_

_**It's too late.**_

_**Whoa!**_

Korra saw him come in but she look only at Jack. He was her rock. Her gravity. And if he wasn't around, she would go crazy. So This song said so much and yet so little at the same time. But what would she do with Mako? She all ready had that planned.

_**It's too late to apologize.**_

_**It's too late...**_

_**It's too lat to apologize.**_

_**It's too late.**_

_**I said it's too late to apologize, yeah!**_

_**I said it's too late apologize, yeah!**_

_**I'm holdin' on your rope,**_

Mako watched as the girl he loved walk into the arms of another man. But her words rang in his head.

A/\N: see I need an idea for the next one. Please I love to write and I love to be helped. It's like ikm sponge bob and your gary. It's just that awesome.


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